I have found this board again after a number of years away and I am in really big need of advice.I have accrued an enormous amount (eye watering in fact) of unsecured debt over the last few years and whilst I have been aware I need to address it, I have not done so.A change in my personal circumstances has forced this issue and I need to start working out how on earth I can begin to sort it out.May I ask - is it usual to post an SoA as a starting point?

I thought the usual recommended solution in the absence of being able to transfer balances to a lower rate was to snowball. In other words reduce the monthly payments on the lower APR loans or cards to the minimum required and throw all available cash at repaying the highest APR. Though you may not be allowed to reduce the payments on the Halifax loans.

But perhaps you have enough of a good credit rating to get favourable balance transfer offers.

If this figure is true, i.e. you really have an extra £511 left at the end of each month, then personally I would save a couple of months into an emergency fund of £1000 for when the car packs up or the boiler goes phut that you then don't have to reach for the credit card.

Throw the £511 at the Halifax mastercard, so in 20 months that will be paid off, and you'll then be able to put the £93 + the £511 on the virgin one. That's 15 months, then that's an extra £700pm to throw at the barclaycard.

It also depends how long the loans are for, as when they finish that's another £400pm you can throw at the cards. So at some point it could be over £1100 hammering at the barclaycard, that would be making serious debts.

It's going to be a long slog, years not months, but it's doable, just concentrate on the goals of paying off each card and each loan in turn.

All sounds like very good advice to me. It does look like a long slog. If it were me I would create a series of mini milestones, say every time you reduce the outstanding debt by 2,500, and having a small celebration. Best of luck with it.

Seems high for a circa 140k house. Mine was never more than £150 a year for a similar valued house. Shop around.

Fair point on the premium and shopping around but rebuildings costs are not based on property prices. I've seen many a place where the insurance cover (as verified by appointed professionals) is twice the value of the property, which includes land.

robbelg wrote:Can you get another loan? - even at 12.9% it would be better than the credit cards.

Alternatively is remortgaging a possibility, given the apparent equity in the property, which may not be impossible given the loans appear to be unsecured, and it might therefore spread the repayments further into the future? I know little of mortgages though and wonder if the existence and level of the unsecured debt would make remortgaging an no go area.

I thought the usual recommended solution in the absence of being able to transfer balances to a lower rate was to snowball. In other words reduce the monthly payments on the lower APR loans or cards to the minimum required and throw all available cash at repaying the highest APR. Though you may not be allowed to reduce the payments on the Halifax loans.

But perhaps you have enough of a good credit rating to get favourable balance transfer offers.

I doubt very much that with my current level of unsecured debt that I would have a sufficient rating to be offered anything more preferable than the current rates I am paying.

If this figure is true, i.e. you really have an extra £511 left at the end of each month, then personally I would save a couple of months into an emergency fund of £1000 for when the car packs up or the boiler goes phut that you then don't have to reach for the credit card.

Throw the £511 at the Halifax mastercard, so in 20 months that will be paid off, and you'll then be able to put the £93 + the £511 on the virgin one. That's 15 months, then that's an extra £700pm to throw at the barclaycard.

It also depends how long the loans are for, as when they finish that's another £400pm you can throw at the cards. So at some point it could be over £1100 hammering at the barclaycard, that would be making serious debts.

It's going to be a long slog, years not months, but it's doable, just concentrate on the goals of paying off each card and each loan in turn.

Loan 1 settles in 50 months and loan 2 in 53 months. My plan was to throw any surplus to the mastercard, as this is the debt with the highest interest but that kind of goes against the snowball principle does it not?

PaulBullet wrote:Council Tax - Are you getting the single person deduction?Life Insurance - Why do you need this?

Easy Money making stuff

Rent a room - do you have a spare room?

Ebay - Most people have loads of junk other people love to buy

Paul

Council tax - I can apply for the single person deduction once my partner moves out which is early next month. And I will sell any available stuff I have!Renting a room may be doable, but not a preferred option, however I would give this consideration should the situation start to become unmanageable

cheshirecat wrote:Loan 1 settles in 50 months and loan 2 in 53 months. My plan was to throw any surplus to the mastercard, as this is the debt with the highest interest but that kind of goes against the snowball principle does it not?

That is the snowball principle. If you pay off some of the debt with the highest APR first, you save on next month's interest, so you've got more spare cash available. Hence "snowball" because the amount you can pay off increases with time.